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Little Tavern in Baltimore

While there were more Little Taverns built in Washington DC than in Baltimore, the rapid development in the District claimed many of those over the years, and the chain , especially in its later years, came to be closely tied to the cultural identity of Baltimore.

As the complete list of Little Tavern locations has grown, it has also become somewhat more convoluted. I have broken it down into regions and added some more short-lived locations that I’ve recently found. As always, this is a work in progress, so if you have any further insight or photos, give me a shout!

No. 1
1/2 East Mount Royal Ave., Baltimore, MD
Originally built in castle style, remodeled into tudor cottage style
Opened June 2, 1930, lost Lease April 1981
Demolished early 1980s
c.1964 Little Tavern company photo. Collection of Larry Collier

No 3.
908 W. 36th St. Baltimore MD
Opened Jan 29, 1931, no longer a Little Tavern by the 1960s
The first Little Tavern to be built in tudor style
Still standing
Photo (C) Michael G. Stewart/ dinerhunter.com

No. 8
923 West North Ave, Baltimore, MD
Opened March 9, 1937
Closed 1988. Entire area has been demolished and redeveloped
c.1964 Little Tavern company photo. Collection of Larry Collier

No. 9
3200 W. Belvedere Ave. Baltimore, MD
Opened late 1937
Across from Pimlico race track. Harry F. Duncan, founder of Little Tavern, was a major fan of horse racing and opened shops both here and down from the Laurel race track. After a day of losing big at the horse track in May of 1954 with his friends J. Edgar Hoover, Clyde Tolson and Theodore McKeldin, Duncan had his limo stop at this location and told the Baltimore offices to “leave the pickles off the hamburgers for a few days until I get even”.
Dismantled around 2014
c.1964 Little Tavern company photo. Collection of Larry Collier

2001 East Monument St, Baltimore, MD
Opened 1941. Partially demolished/converted to a Burger King in 2007
Photo collection of Spencer Stewart

115 West Baltimore St. Baltimore MD
Property purchased Dec 21, 1939

10 Park Ave Baltimore, MD
Opened 1965. At the time of its opening, it was the 17th operating in Maryland. The numbering gets a little funny as things go on, as locations went out of business. After the 1930s, Little Tavern stopped putting the shop numbers on the signs, and only occasionally referred to them when opening new locations, though they didn’t maintain the original chronology.
Sold to the owners of the Lighthouse Restaurant in 1987
Photo courtesy the Baltimore Museum of Industry

6414 Holabird Ave Baltimore, MD 21224
Exiting building, formerly a sandwich shop
At the time of its opening, it was the 13th operating in the Baltimore area.
Opened April 1983. Closed 2008, the last operating Little Tavern.
2002. Creative Commons license. Photo by wikipedia user Munch10

3515 Eastern Ave Baltimore, MD
Storefront location, formerly a White Coffee Pot restaurant, going back to the 1930s.
Opened as a Little Tavern in the late ’70s- early 1980s, closed 2007
Google maps streetview, 2007

The two locations in Towson, two locations in Annapolis, the location in Laurel, the one in Columbia, the one in Essex and the location in Glen Burnie fell under the management of the Baltimore office, while the two locations in Silver Spring, the one in Wheaton and the ones in Virginia fell under the management of Washington. I’m including the ones geographically closer to Baltimore in this list.

1517 Joppa Road, Towson, MD
Opened between 1961 and 1964. Without any other images to confirm, I’m still not 100% sure this is the correct photo for this location. If so, this was Little Tavern’s first and only foray into more modern architecture.
c.1964 Little Tavern company photo. Collection of Larry Collier